On the way to a job today, driving along beside a mangrove fringe area, and spotted this fellow perched on a street light, didn't recognise what he was and pulled over hurriedly and got a couple of shots, i suspect he's a juvenile Grey Goshawk, please correct me, as i'm not sure!
Well spotted - great pic.
Hi HendoNT,
Great picture and it sure is a grey goshawk
Cheers BabyBirdwatcher
Love the photo
M-L
Thanks people, nearly strained my neck when i saw him and drove past, for all the BoP up here, don't see these little fellows much, lots of Brown Goshawks, not many of these, (that i know of!)
One more, are these common where you are from?
Beautiful bird. Very nice pics, thanks for sharing.
Beautiful bird, thanks for sharing Hendo.
At first glance one might mistake it for a pigeon, but that's one pigeon you don't want to mess with...
If falconry was legal in Australia this is the bird I would have, I live on a ridge line and have a pair of resident Grey goshawks that soar and hunt right in front of my back deck, one of each colour morph, beautiful to watch.
That's interesting. I didn't know Falconry wasn't legal in Australia.
I wonder why?
Samford Valley Qld.
Hi Reflex,
I dont know either, if you get the appropriate training and licence you should be able to practice falconry in Australia. We have some pretty stupid wildlife laws though, great example, its legal to keep cats, which even when domestic destroy native wildlife, then when people dump them and the cats go feral they are an even worse problem, however it is not legal to keep the native Quoll which is endangerd. The Quoll is a native animal, similar in size to a cat and has become endangerd due to habitat destruction and more so the introduction of foxes and cats. Quolls make great pets by all accounts and would be an excellent alternative to a cat, it would help save the Quoll from extinction and they would cause no problem for the environment being a native animal, yet we cannot keep them. Moronic politicians in charge.
I imagine hunting one animal with another should be illegal, as Falconry is about hunting birds, not just having a pet falcon sitting on your arm!
Saturnv, wouldn't habitat protection & restoration be a more effective way of conserving Quolls than keeping them as pets, particularly in places where they're not indigenous?
For sure, in an ideal world, but unfortunately we live in the real world, where greedy developers and big business will always win over conserving the environment and wildlife. The Eastern quoll is considered extinct on the mainland and the Tiger Quoll is in trouble too. No better way to bring them back from the brink than to let people who care about the survival of native wildlife keep them as pets, much better to have Quolls roaming the bush at night than cats that's for sure, this is just my opinion.
True, I used the term "falconry" meaning keeping a raptor as a free flying animal companion though I do realise that historically it involves using a raptor to catch food. In reality though dogs are used all the time in Australia to hunt feral pigs etc so it's not as if animals aren't used here to hunt other animals, and in the wild what does a raptor do? Does it really make much difference if it hunts and flies back to a nest or hunts and flies back to your arm?
Hi SaturnV,
There is some good news ahead for species like the quoll in NSW. The AWC is teaming up the the state government to reintroduce species such as the quoll into large national parks that have cat proof and fox proof fences in an effort to save these species from extinction. You can read the article http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/extinct-species-get-hope-under-an-ambitious-plan-to-turn-back-the-clock-and-give-animals-a-jurassic-parkstyle-home-of-their-own/story-fni0cx4q-1226881850878
Cheers Babybirdwatcher
I concur, especially given it's legal to shoot some native ducks but not use a trained peregrine for the same hunting purpose, it seems somewhat of an inconsistency, not that i condone either activity.
http://www.dailyliberal.com.au/story/2161446/angry-birds-assault-on-starlings-weeks-away/?cs=112
Falconry has been used at Strathalbyn SA to reduce Little Corella numbers in town. It failed as has a variety of other methods tried so far.